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Venkatesh Iyer took just 49 balls to smash his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) century for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, April 14. It was a special moment for the Madhya Pradesh-based batter, who is now just the second KKR batter in the 16-year history of the IPL to hit a ton in the cash-rich league.
Brendon McCullum's century for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening match of IPL 2008 was their first-ever in the competition, but it has taken them 15 years to get a second centurion. In between, they have also conceded a massive 11 centuries.
FOLLOW THE KKR VS MI's LIVE SCORES HERE
Venkatesh made his IPL debut only in 2021, in the second half of the season which was held in the UAE. He showed his capabilities with both the bat and the ball in that season, proving his decision to make the switch from a cushy MBA job to a sport as unpredictable as cricket.
He made the chances count, both in the IPL as well as in the domestic cricket circuit and earned a call-up to the national team. Making his debut was not enough, however, and he could not keep the momentum going in IPL 2022. But this time around, it has been an exceptional performance from the KKR batter.
Against MI in the first match on Sunday's double-header treat, Venkatesh was the main aggressor for KKR despite the team losing wickets and struggling against the opponent bowlers. In fact, for the first 11 overs of the match, he was the only Kolkata batter who found the boundary on a regular for KKR!
By the 12th over, Venkatesh Iyer had 5 fours and 7 sixes while the rest of the KKR batters had 0 fours and 0 sixes.
Coming in to bat at no.3 after the wicket of N Jagadeesan has become the norm for Venkatesh. What makes his achievement even better is that in the opening stages of the match, he was hit on the knee and seemed in extreme pain for the next few overs, limping while running in between the wickets.
After stabilising his batting, Venkatesh took the game to the bowlers, taking them on and finding the boundary regularly. He went on to complete his century in the 17th over and then hit one more boundary before losing his wicket off Rilee Meredith's bowling. He finished with a score of 104, smashing 6 fours and 9 sixes, while his team set a target of 180 runs for the home side.
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